I don’t notice the snowbirds nearly as much as I did 20 years ago - maybe Phoenix has gotten that much bigger, maybe the freeways are better. I always thought it was rude when Dave Pratt insulted them, and even ruder to have “Welcome to Arizona, Now Go Away” on your bumper. I always try to be nice to the visitors I meet.
That said, I do occasionally see them make some really boneheaded driving moves.
Absolutely. Plus the news story will highlight the idea that the “fire lane” wasn’t clearly marked. Oh sure, there are four signs, and the familiar yellow painted lines in the parking lot, but these are “especially difficult” for elderly people to see.
Plus Mr. FireLaneParker served in Korea, won four purple hearts, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and now lives on a social security payment of $11 a month and can’t afford the tow bill to get his Caddy out of the police impound.
Well, I did say “kindly”… 
Your last paragraph redeems your comment, but I wish it had been in your original post. If someone on this board refers to a fat asshole doing something wrong, or a black bitch cutting them off in traffic, others fly into a spittle-drenched rage about the pejorative description. And they’re right to take issue with unnecessary adjectives that classify people because of physical attributes such as weight or skin color or whatever the case is. But with age, it seems to be a different story. We make jokes about alzheimers and the behavior of older folks and generally dismiss them as being of little consequence. Yes, we’ve become a very PC society, but that doesn’t excuse bigoted behavior as an antidote.
I sympathize with your snowbird problem. We have the same problem up here with tourists in the summer. They take over the downtown area and treat the place as an amusement park, without any heed for their own safety. Many are rude and act like the locals are beneath contempt: douchebags, in other words. We complain to each other, but the fact is that tourist dollars are an important part of the local economy, so we grit our teeth and avoid the downtown area. That may not be an option where you are.
I’m 61 years old: not yet doddering around aimlessly, but old enough to be stung by ageist remarks. My brother and sister are both significantly older than I am, and showing the signs of age. Can’t be helped much. Their behavior is largely a function of age and not of being a deliberate douchebag, although there is some of that at times.
Anyway, this probably should have been my response to your post, but then we all can be douchebags upon occasion.
Where we live, we get the RVs on the major highway. They’re about the size of tour buses and are driven by people who generally don’t drive vehicles that big, and they drive like it. Factor in the cars they tow behind them and it’s a wonder there aren’t more accidents.
When I am Queen of the World, I will require special endorsement on driver’s licenses for RVs and other very large non-mass-transit vehicles.
Robin
It doesn’t matter if they’re snowbirds, leafers, tourists or in fact at home, New Yorkers are just annoying. 
(Connecticutter '82-'05)
I’ve no problem with the elderly in general, I do work in an industry where we come across them frequently. So the ageist thing is a non sequitor, I don’t think anybody here hates old people. What I personally feel the term “snowbirds” or in this context “old douchebags” describes is a very particular subset of elderly people. These are the Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan license plates, typically. The ones who drive -15 mph in the left lane during rush hour. The ones that park in the fire lane because it’s more convenient. The ones that never miss an opportunity to mention that they shouldn’t have to pay sales tax here because they don’t feel obligated to help fund our kids’ education. The blue hairs that can barely see above the steering wheel and cause multiple near-accidents on a daily basis. The never seeming to know where they’re going on the road or ability to follow basic traffic laws. The feeling of entitlement that stems from the belief that they alone support our whole economic existence (newsflash: We survive just fine for the other 7 months out of the year when it’s hot down here…).
It’s not just “old people”. These people were probably entitled and rude throughout their entire lives. They just like to come to our place of residence and be entitled and rude like it’s their job for 5 months or so out of the year. So no offense to you particularly, Chefguy, unless you’re a douchebag snowbird too
Pish-tosh! Florida (and Arizona and New Mexico and…) is only there so they can get away from the cold. It’s not like it’s a real place.
Sometimes I wholeheartedly agree…
Southerners are snotty about snowbirds. I suppose they should just send some money down south and stay home. Would that make you happy?
Well, yeah. You don’t seem to understand; it gets REALLY cold here!
(Smileys are understood, I assume?)
There are snowbirds in Illinois?
Perhaps his livelihood depends on taking care of things for people while they’re away.
I believe one should be obligated to earn December/January/February here in Sonoran Snowbird Central by enduring June/July/August without complaint.
OTOH, I’d get the fuck out of Dodge every May, myself, if only I could afford it. 
You get my point, ivylass.
Michigan has its share of tourists as well. They are called “fudgies” as opposed to “snowbirds”. As much as people complain about the behavior of those fudgies, let something like a gas price increase (like we had last year) take them away & it is amazing how much they are missed.
I just expect that if some of the complainers about those snowbirds get their heads back out in the sunshine, they might find a bigger picture to be concerned with.
Points taken. Peace.
At least they’re on the highways there. Up here, tourons (as we call them) think the world is their freeway and attempt to take their behemoths on roads that are questionable even for trucks. It’s not a real problem unless one doesn’t know what to expect or even how to properly drive on washboarded roads composed of clay and sharp rocks. I’ve taken my RV on most of the roads in this state, but then I know what I’m getting into and don’t take any unnecessary chances.
I once encountered a 40 footer on the Top of The World Highway during a pounding rainstorm. It’s a narrow, potholed, dirt road on the Alaska side of the border during the best of times. When it rains, it all turns to muck and the shoulders are treacherous. I should have just holed up until it abated, but then again I didn’t expect to meet anybody crazy enough to take a 40-footer over this road. All I saw coming around the corner was this wall on wheels, a pair of hands gripping the steering wheel, and a pair of saucer-sized eyes peering in terror over the wheel. I seriously thought we were going to end up at the bottom of a hundred foot drop-off, but somehow managed to squeeze past him. But I’ll bet he lost his passenger side mirror on the cliff face.
From the other perspective, they might feel they’ve earned some respite from the cold from enduring it every friggin’ year, for 65 plus years (for your retirement aged snowbird). I’m feeling that way already, at 42.
I’ll trade with you - we’ll come visit in Jan, Feb, and March, and you can come visit us in June, July, and August. Calgary summers are damned near perfect. 
As Chefguy said:
[/QUOTE]
I once encountered a 40 footer on the Top of The World Highway during a pounding rainstorm. It’s a narrow, potholed, dirt road on the Alaska side of the border during the best of times. When it rains, it all turns to muck and the shoulders are treacherous. I should have just holed up until it abated, but then again I didn’t expect to meet anybody crazy enough to take a 40-footer over this road. All I saw coming around the corner was this wall on wheels, a pair of hands gripping the steering wheel, and a pair of saucer-sized eyes peering in terror over the wheel. I seriously thought we were going to end up at the bottom of a hundred foot drop-off, but somehow managed to squeeze past him. But I’ll bet he lost his passenger side mirror on the cliff face.
[/QUOTE]
THIS is just like Lucy and Desi in “The Long Long Trailer” when they were crossing the Rockies in their monster-mobile! One of my favorite movies, and that scene still makes me flinch.
I haven’t seen that movie in its entirety, but I can tell you that this experience was no figment of a writer’s imagination! Scared the crap out of me.
I’ll grant that that’s pretty scary.
The RV drivers here are scary because they’re not used to driving these huge things, and when these behemoths hit the road, their drivers have no idea how big these things really are. Once on the highway, they’re in competition with trucks and smaller passenger vehicles. Off the highway, I’ve seen them almost get stuck under gas-station canopies, and I’ve had to navigate around them in parking lots when they take up four spaces in the middle of the lot.
I don’t have to deal with it on a daily basis anymore, which is good. There isn’t enough Xanax in the world to deal with them.
Robin